Archive for May 6th, 2009

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 5/5/09

“Fellow countrymen set up a defense network to rescue and advise migrants whose rights may be violated by officials of that country”

(Full translation of article regarding assistance network for Guatemalans illegally in the United States)

Guatemalans who live in that country formed a defense cordon by means of which they’ve been able to free more than 60 undocumented persons. The increase in round-ups and deportations during 2008 motivated various migrant organizations to form the Community Defense Network, whose purpose is to avoid “by any means” the detentions by the Immigration and Border Control Service (sic) , ICE, in English.
Rhode Island is one of the most organized cities (sic) where that assistance is provided, as well as in Arizona and Chicago. Shanna Kurland, movement coordinator, explained that the defense works by means of days of volunteerism. Kurland said “We have an emergency number that works 24 hours. In case ICE detains an emigrant on the street, or tries to knock down the door of his house, the undocumented persons must call immediately, so that we can arrive and protect his rights”. Juan Garcia, Guatemalan member of the Immigrants’ Action Committee, told that a few weeks ago he received a call at midnight from a fellow countryman who was in trouble because ICE was knocking on his door, and was about to tear it down, with the justification that they had an order of deportation. Garcia said “I called all the volunteers and we arrived at the place. Upon checking, it wasn’t true that they had an order of deportation, for which reason they were unable to detain the Guatemalan.”

The numbers that work in Rhode Island are 401-228-8996 and 1-877-527-3330. The migrants’ leader pointed out that a radio station, whose broadcast lasts 24 hours, is also part of the community defense network. He explained “The first thing I do when they call me, whether it’s midnight or dawn, is to call the station and announce that ICE is at the house of such and such a person, then, the taxi drivers and the persons who work at night hear me and we get together at the address where the officials are, and in that way we bring about pressure. We also carry cameras and we’ve seen that it has had an effect because we’ve been able to liberate more than 60 undocumented.”
Maricela Garcia, Latin Politics Forum representative in Chicago, asserted that the Guatemalans and Central Americans adopted a new lobbying procedure without having to leave their homes. “Fear reigns among the migrants; they have fear of being captured or deported, for which reason now they get together in homes and invite their friends to write lobbying letters for a migratory reform and afterward they send them to the congressmen of the whole country”, said Garcia. This new method is called “congressmen’s fiestas.”
– – – – – –
El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 5/5/09“Last week the U.S. Coast Guard detained a Colombian vessel with 2,700 kilos of cocaine, according to information confirmed by El Heraldo” “The vessel was stopped in international waters near Nicaraguan and Honduran waters. The vessel, the contraband and the crew were taken to the United States to be processed under the laws of that country.” The crew was composed of two Colombians and three Venezuelans. The vessel’s destination was believed to be the U.S.
A Costa Rican Public Security report states that in 2008 Costa Rica seized 10.2 (metric) tons of cocaine, while Honduras seized 8.5, Panama 7.6, Nicaragua 7 and El Salvador 1. Guatemala had zero reported.
– – – – – –

Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala) 5/5/09

On Monday the 4th there were nine homicides in and around Guatemala City. The body of one of the victims was burned and left in the trunk of a car. The other murders took place at different times and areas. All were shot.
– – – – – –
Colombian Gov’t. Press Office (Bogota, Colombia) 5/5/09

Within the last eight days 1,471 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride have been seized by Colombian naval units. In the last such event the drug was being transported by a “fast boat” apparently headed for Central America; this most recent capture took place two nautical miles west of Cape Marzo, in the far north of Colombia’s Pacific coast.
– – – – – –

El Tiempo (Bogota, Colombia) 5/5/09Colombian military forces found “war materiel” in a rural area near Mosquera, in Colombia’s southwest coast. A base camp with lodging capacity for 30 persons was found to have 17 AK-47’s, 29 60mm. grenades, two M79 grenade launchers, a 5.56 mm. machine gun, a carbine and a pistol, 83 rifle clips, 10,142 rounds of ammo, parts for rifles, a machine gun barrel, 6 radios, a power plant and a variety of parts of military uniforms. Two labs for processing cocaine paste and 250 gallons of liquid cocaine base were also found. No arrests were mentioned.
– – – – – –

Cuarto Poder (Tuxtla, Chiapas) 5/5/09

“Transport agencies” (read: bus companies) report that not even the flu virus has halted the exodus of Chiapans to other parts of the country. The most popular destinations are Tijuana, Guadalajara and Cancun. The Tijuana buses run seven days a week and the fare is not over a thousand pesos (approx. 75 dollars). Some 500 persons leave Chiapas daily.
– – – – – –

Critica, also El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 5/5/09

Devices detected a group of “burreros” (drug backpackers) Saturday morning (5/2/09) around Bartolo Canyon, to the northwest of Nogales, AZ. A Border Patrol helicopter overflew the area and a man was seen running and apparently carrying a rifle. When ground units arrived they were not able to locate the smugglers, who are believed to have fled south back into Mexico; however, they did find four assault rifles – two of them loaded – , 200 rounds of ammo, a backpack with 25 lbs. of weed, a radio and a cell phone. (The “M3” Report of 4/29 reported the arrest of 22 other “burreros”, also near Nogales, AZ.)
– – – – – –

A selection of front page headline items follows:
* Two brothers murdered at the exit of Maripa
* Two subjects detained after shootout
* Five members of a family are “executed”
* Army detains six “Zetas” and an arsenal
* Navy sailors destroy almost 300 kilos of marihuana
* An armed group carries off a soldier by force
* Car salesman is “wrapped”, “taped” and murdered in Los Mochis
– – – – – –

El Diario de Coahuila (Saltillo, Coahuila) 5/5/09

At dawn today an anonymous call led Mex. military to a house in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. When they arrived, two women attempted to flee but were detained. In the house there were 47 Mexicans (thirty men, three women, fourteen minors) who’d been held there for four days until they each paid between 2 and 5 thousand dollars while waiting to be taken into the United States illegally.
– – – – – –

El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 5/5/09

(Extracts from op/column by Miguel A. Granados, “The other epidemic”)
Just during the weekend organized crime produced as many human victims as those caused by the human flu virus. Between Saturday and Sunday twenty-six persons died (or their bodies were found) in Ciudad Juarez and various points in Guerrero. The influenza epidemic is being dealt with. We cannot say the same about the other lethal epidemic of organized crime which oppresses us.
– – – – – –

El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 5/5/09

The bodies of two bullet-riddled men were found in a sedan in Cananea, Sonora (some 40 mi. SE of Nogales) last night. Sixty-one rifle shell casings were picked up at the site.
– – – – – –

El Universal (Mexico City) 5/5/09

An article titled “They kill 6 in Ciudad Juarez despite circle of vigilance” then goes on to list and enumerate the results of other organized crime activities. In Acapulco, Guerrero, a hospital was the target of a drive-by shooting with AK-47. One patient was wounded. In Pilcaya, Guerrero, four bodies were found in a ravine. Other homicides took place in Zirandaro, in Tequila, Jalisco, (three) and in Durango (three)
– – – – – –

Excelsior (Mexico City) 5/5/09

A criminal court judge ordered the imprisonment of six police agents of Aguascalientes, Ags., and twelve Mex. military personnel for their association and complicity with the “Zetas” criminal group in that city. The eighteen are said to have furnished protection and to have participated in homicides with that group.
– – – – – –

Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 5/5/09

Homicide victim # 19 for the month of May in Juarez was found at 10 a.m. yesterday. He’d been shot four times.
– – – – – –